William Francis Lynch

“ The persecuted have our warmest sympathies.
In the afternoon, Prince Ali called upon us. He is of the family of Shehab, which came in with Saladin, and is the oldest in Syria. We accompanied him to the source of the Jordan. Descending the ravine, and turning to the north, we passed through groves of olive, fig, and mulberry trees, and crossed the river over a one-arched bridge; the banks lined with willow and plane trees, and luxuriantly fertile. ”

“ No one reclined in the grateful shade of the fruit-trees; and the song of a mother, and the mimic shouts of children, which once echoed around them, were no longer heard. It is not difficult to surmise the fate of the family — the father killed — the mother and the children driven forth — helpless wanderers. ”

“ Flowing through an extensive and fertile plain, the river pours itself in a wide and shallow stream into the sea, nearly at its north-east extremity.
Upon the western shore, near the mouth of the river, were many tents of the tribe El Batiheh. A number of these were constructed of wattled cane, giving free access to the air, and, from their diminutive size, more resembled cages for beasts than human habitations. Much of the plain had been under cultivation, but the harvest was over, and the fields were blackened from the burning of the stubble. ”

“ Of all the human family, there is not one so malevolent and so fiendish as the sour and self-sufficient bigot, who, catching a brand from the altar of Moloch, lights the fires of persecution, and perverting, with infamous audacity, the mild breathings of the sacred volume into lessons of cruelty and proscription, becomes the foe of his fellowman and the mocker of his august Creator. ”

“ Starting early on the 15th, our course led north-east, along the brow of the hill overlooking the Ardh el Huleh (Lands of Huleh) , the lake, Tell el Kadi (Hill of the Judge) , and the town of Banias, with several villages in sight. Much dhoura and rice, but little wheat, cultivated in the plain.
In two hours, we crossed a fine old Roman bridge, with its three arches, spanning the river Hasbeiya (the true Jordan) , which, far below, swept through with great velocity, its rushing and tumbling waters darkened with fragments of rock peering above the eddying whirls of foam ”

“ Our road led parallel with the river, until we opened on a yet more extensive plain, with the lake on its eastern side. This plain was under partial cultivation; there were two villages (one in ruins) near the centre, and many Arab encampments scattered about, — the men smoking in the tents, while the women, with uncovered heads, were at work in the broiling sun. This lake is the Merom of the Bible, and upon this plain, Joshua overthrew the Canaanites. ”

“ It is said that the mountaineers, to increase their security, purposely render their roads almost impassable. We soon opened the town of Hasbeiya, seated far up on the crest of the right acclivity, its castle and a minaret conspicuous, and camped on a ledge, in an olive-grove, about one-third up from the bed of the ravine.
The town was two hundred feet above us, on the opposite side, on the crest of a hill, which sweeps from east round to south, and overlooks the ravine on those two sides. ”

“ The houses are two stories high, with the universal flat mud roof, which answers very well, there being, even at that elevation, but little frost in winter to affect them. It is not a walled town, but its terraces, and the horizontal lines of houses along the face of the hill, give it quite a fortified aspect. There were groves of olive, mulberry, and fig, and some apricot trees on each side of the ravine, from its head as far down as we could see. There was a large stone reservoir, with a ruined bridge, at the head of the ravine; a meagre fountain a little lower down ”

“ The tents were of cane wicker-work, with upright sides, and more comfortable than any we had seen. The hills on the left formed a lofty range of swelling domes, terminating to the north in an abrupt perpendicular face of horizontal strata, — the prevailing rock, limestone. Sweeping round the head of the plain to the north-east, we ascended to an elevated plateau, and camped on the banks of the Golden Stream, a tributary of the river of Banias, one of the former supposed sources of the Jordan. The castle of Honin, which was concealed from view when on the plain, bore north-west. ”

“ Thence to Banias (Cesarea Philippi) , the road led, in nearly an easterly direction, through a beautiful country, with numerous clumps of trees, mostly oak, and many coy flowers, peeping out from the tufted grass. Ascending a hill-side, dotted with oaks, we encountered many streams rushing down, it being the hour of irrigation. ”

“ The gigantic rock, all majesty, above; its banks, enamelled with beauty and fragrance, all loveliness, beneath; render it a fitting fountain-head of a stream which was destined to lave the immaculate body of the Redeemer of the world. Lieut. Dale, who had the eye of an artist, thought that the scene would make a more beautiful picture than any he had ever beheld. He sketched it, with Prince Ali in the foreground.
THE DRUSES
The costume of the prince, except in the richness of the materials, was the same as that of the majority of the males of the upper class. ”

“ There is a fabulous legend of the true source of this stream being Lake Phiala, a short distance to the south-east of the town. Josephus states that “Philip the Tetrarch cast straw into this lake, which came out again at Panion, which, till that time, was taken for the head of the Jordan.” To this place our Saviour came from Bethsaida.
From Banias we pursued a north-west course, the country rolling; the soil, like that of yesterday, red clay, with a substratum of limestone, which occasionally cropped out. At first there was much cultivation, and a great many people harvesting ”

“ The scarp of the rock was about forty feet high; and the north-east branch, being mere back-water, extended only a few hundred yards; but its banks were fringed with the wild rose, the white and pink oleander, and the clematis orientalis, or oriental virgin’s bower. The north-west branch, at the distance of about a hundred yards, plunged over a dam, and went rushing through the arch of the bridge below. The hand of art could not have improved the scene. ”

“ A little south of the ruins of Khan Minyeh we came to ‘Ain et Tin (Fountain of the Fig) . From the base of a high cliff at the north-west angle of the sea, the limpid stream gushes out beneath a rock, with two large fig-trees above it, — whence its name. The water is sweet and cooler than that of the lake. For about twenty paces it flows a broad but shallow stream, which separates into two branches, that enclose a verdant little island, almost exactly in the shape of a heart, and thence its united streams have worn a channel to the sea. Upon the cliff above, Dr. ”

“ Ascending from ‘Ain et Tin, turning to the east, and leaving the khan and the usual route on our left, the road led along the face of the cliff, being cut through the rock, about four feet wide, with high perpendicular sides. We soon after passed Ain et Tobighah, a brackish stream, with a flour-mill, ruins of other mills, canals and wells, and thence along a slope, barren of verdure except a few isolated, thorny shrubs, the surface covered with boulders of ferruginous sandstone. ”

“ It is an oblong hill, with swelling sides and a flattened summit, about eighty feet above the plain. Over the crest is a hollow, where the fountain bubbles up. There were a great many oak-trees scattered about; and to the south-west, a ruined stone-house, not very ancient ”

“ There are 1500 who pay poll-tax in the town; and as it is only paid by able-bodied men, over twenty-one and under forty years of age, there must be near 9000 inhabitants in Hasbeiya, of whom two-thirds are Christians, mostly of the Greek persuasion. ”

“ The costume of the men is the turban, with the tarbouch beneath, Turkish trowsers and slippers, and a spencer or light frock, open in front. With similar dresses, the married women wear the hollow horn, its base resting on the head and its point protruding forwards or sideways, much in the shape of an elongated cone. ”

“ Prayers on such occasions are first offered in open communion, but, towards the close of the exercises the great body of the people retire, and only the initiated remain. They are taught to give no direct answer to one of another persuasion. ”

“ There are supposed to be ten thousand Druses able to bear arms, which make about fifty thousand in all, living in the Lebanon, from Beïrût to Tyre, along the coast, in the Hauran, and near Damascus. Their religion is little known. ”